Through Utah and 1/2 way across Colorado

Thurs. 6/9:  Ely to Border Inn wore me out, and the weather was very hot, so decided to take a day off rather than brave a 90 mile ride with nothing but desert and hills.  Caught a ride to Delta in a pickup truck and spent most of the day in the Delta public library (with A/C) writing the last blog post.

Fri: 6/10:  Delta to Nephi
Headed out early to avoid the worst heat.  Arrived in Nephi a little after noon.  Only a 50 mile, 1500 ft vertical ride.  Most of it desert.

Sat. 6/11:  Nephi - Provo - Heber City

Rode to Provo via Payson.  It's pretty flat... but stupid Google Maps says "Steep Hills" and shows a 5000+ foot cliff :

There doesn't seem to be any interest from Google to fix this and other bugs (like characterizing mountainous route as "Mostly Flat".    When a route is characterized as "Mostly Flat" the elevation profile doesn't show on the phone.  

From Provo, there's a lovely pedestrian/bike trail that runs along the Provo River for 16 miles, paralleling US 189.  That's about 1/2 of the ride to Heber City.  The trail is well-used, and since it was a weekend, there were a lot of families out.

Heber City has grown significantly since I last past through (2015).  They now have a Walmart and the Best Western I stayed at is also new.

Sun 6/12:  Heber City - Daniels Summit - Duchesne (pronounced "doo shane")

The first 16 miles to the summit is all uphill (2400 ft).  At the summit (el 8070 ft) is the Daniels Summit Lodge, where I stayed in 2015.  It's a good place to take a break after a long climb.  The rest of the ride to Duchesne was hot, but mostly downhill with tailwinds.  About midway there's a Sinclair (remember them?) station / convenience store / cafe.  Very welcome, since I was running low on water.

Mon 6/13:  Duchesne to Vernal

Vernal's a sizable town.  The main attraction is Dinosaur Land, a combination museum / amusement park.  

I arrived early and hung out in their library for a few hours b4 dinner.   The weather broke while I was inside.  When I got there it was 92°.  By 6:30, there were thunder storms and it was 58°.

For me, Vernal's main attraction is food.   Especially Antica Forma, a Pizza place with a killer dessert, 

Bacci:  Lightly fried pizza dough strips with Nutella and sugar.

Tues 6/14:  Vernal to Rangely, CO  
It was in the low 40's, so after the hotel breakfast, I went back to sleep for a couple of hours.  By the time I checked out, it was 11... so I had an early lunch at The Sloppy Pig.  

Pulled Pork sandwich and beans were both excellent. 

Green River, about 20 miles E of Vernal

Got to Rangely around 6:30.  Rangely and Meeker are on CO 164, which runs south of US 40.

Wed 6/15:  Rangely to Meeker

Meeker looks like it's a little larger than Rangely.  Both are primarily mining, and some ranching.  
Something's been biting my legs and arms on the road.  Life's getting itchy.

Thu 6/16:  Meeker to Craig

Another mining town.  Very Trumpian politically.

  

Eat Beef, Wear Wool, Dig Coal, & Go Fishing

The ride was uphill for the first 20 miles or so, and starting to warm up a bit.  I went to a "doc in the box" on arrival to get something for the bites.  Had a late lunch, so dinner was Microwaved Corn from the Walmart

Despite the Cortisone Cream, it was a pretty sleepless night due to the itching.

Also bought some insect repellent.   We generally buy the burglar alarm after we've been burglarized.

Crossing Nevada

Wed. June 1:  Drove up to Millbrae with Alexandra then took BART to Civic Center to have a sendoff breakfast at Arsicault, my favorite French bakery.  Back to the BART station, Alexandra went back to Millbrae and I went to Antioch so that San Francisco was only 1 day's ride away.  

CA 84 near Rio Vista

Nice warm ride up the delta.  Mostly flat.   From Rio Vista, took Hwy 84, which includes a ferry ride across the river.  After arriving in Sac, went downtown to Sauces for BBQ and brussel sprouts.  Downtown SAC is a pretty vibrant place.  There's about a 6 square block area with a lot of restaurants and bars.

My dinner at Sauces

Thu. June 2:  Had breakfast with Jae and his 6-year old sun Xero.  I met Jae near Pescadero while on one of my local rides from Palo Alto to Santa Cruz.   Jae was on his way to LA.  He was intending to camp at Costanoa for the night (10 mi south of Pescadero), but we had 20+ MPH tailwinds and he decided to  join me and continue to Santa Cruz.  After breakfast I headed over to the Amtrak station, and caught the California Zepher to Reno.  Stayed at a Super 8 at the east end of Sparks.

Fri. June 3:  Headed out towards Fernley on I-80 (27 miles).  Bicycles are legal on the interstates in most Western US states as long as :

• It's not near an urban area
• There are no other paved through routes nearby.

The drawback of bicycling on the interstate is that it's noisy, and not typically scenic.  The advantages are:  Smooth and wide shoulders, and you get a burst of wind at your back everytime a truck passes.

After lunch in Fernley, biked the next 28 miles to Fallon

Fallon is a non-descript town on US-50 but big enough to have a Safeway, hotels, and restaurants.   The tap water has a pretty bad chemical taste, though.  Fortunately, my hotel had a water cooler in the exercise room 😃.

Passes on US50

Many people think Nevada is a flat desert.  Well... the desert part is mostly true.  The "Flat" part is anything but.  During this ride, I went over a total of 16 mountain passes.  

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._Route_50_in_Nevada

Sat. June 4:  

About 61 miles east of Fallon is Cold Springs Station Resort , which is the only place to sleep between Fallon and Austin (another 50 miles to the east).  The first half of the ride is pretty flat, but then there's about 2,200 feet of climbing.  On the 2nd climb, I got off for a mini-break and noticed another bicyclist about 1/2 mile behind.  A pickup truck stopped next to me and said the other cyclist asked if I would wait a little for him to catch up.

Arjun and I then proceeded to bike across the rest of the state together. 

We rode together, more or less.  He's a little faster than me, being about 30 years younger, but he's carrying a lot more gear...  If he had the amount of gear I carry, he'd be way faster.

 

Cold Spring Station has good tap water, food, and motel rooms.  Since I had 2 beds, I invited Arjun to use the other bed. 

Sun. June 5:  The ride to Austin was another day of up and down... 50 miles with 2600 ft of vertical climb.   Google Maps has been characterizing hilly rides as "Mostly Flat"  

Cold Spring Station to Austin. "Mostly Flat" ... yeah, right

Short ride from Hotel in Sacramento to Breakfast at the Fox and Goose.  "Moderate hill"?  

About 25 miles out of Austin we noticed some strange looking grasshoppers on the road.  Many dead, some alive.  I think they're called Mormon Crickets.   

I had dinner at the "Owl Bar".  They were having a $10 spaghetti dinner, complete with salad and a slice of Garlic bread.  The only other food in town was Champ's hamburgers, which is a food truck on the parking lot of Champ's gas station... no tables, no chairs.  Also, Austin had nothing open the next morning for breakfast, so I bought a couple of muffins, and milk, and got coffee at the gas station.  

Arjun was running ahead of me, and stopped in Austin to recharge... then continued on to Spencer Hot Springs, which is another 18 miles east, the last 8 on pretty rough unpaved road.  

Mon. June 6:  Eureka was the next target, starting with Austin Summit at 7500 ft.

 

Arjun and I met up again the next morning about 15 miles east of Austin, where the unpaved road from Spencer Hot Springs meets US50.

Arjun at Hickison Summit 

 

There was only 1 bed in my room, so Arjun camped out in the city park.  

I got a text from him at 4:30 when he woke up around sunrise that he was going to head out.   That was postponed a few minutes later when the sprinklers came on and he had to shelter in place....

We had breakfast at Eureka Depot, a lovely little cafe that has been in business for about 1 year.  Warm Blueberry Muffin was wonderful!

  

Tue. June 7:  The dreaded 4 peak, 80 mi. ride to Ely...

We saw some strange deer, and even a wild donkey along the way.  Other than that it was a difficult ride.  The downhills were fun, though... especially the 15 mile descent into Ely.

The last pass before Ely

On the way into Ely, the phone decided that we had crossed into Rocky Mountain time, so we lost an hour.  We later found out that it was an AT&T anomaly, and that we had really arrived to town at 7:15 instead of 8:15.  The time zone line is at the Utah border.

We pulled into La Fiesta (Mexican food) for dinner... there was a waiting line, so I went across the street to check in at the Ramada hotel/casino (everything in Nevada seems to have a casino).  I got upgraded to a suite, so we had plenty of room.  Meanwhile, Arjun got us a table.  

Wed. June 8:  Still under a time misconception, we arrived at Denny's (in a casino of course) for breakfast about 7:45 (we thought) which was really 6:45.  We hung out until they opened.  Then I proceeded to a laundromat across town to dry some stuff I had hand-washed the night before, and Arjun went back to the room.  

It's only a 2-pass day

I headed out for Border Inn around 10:30, figuring that Arjun would catch up.  He stayed behind for another hour or so.  

Wind farm before the last big climb in Nevada (Sacramento Pass)

I finally got to the Border Inn around 6:30 Nevada time.  The Hotel is on Utah time.   Arjun ended up staying at a park at Sacramento pass.  I was really happy after that ride to have dinner and an ok bed!

Thurs. 6/9

Arjun is going to spend a day or 2 at Great Basin National Park.   I visited the park in 2015, so I'm now in the Delta Utah library, which is  90 miles from the Border Inn (which had terrible wifi with sporatic internet connection).   Nice to be in air conditioning with good internet.

2022 Cross-continent Bike Route(s)

This year's ride combines elements of several past rides.  

Ride Highlights:

Ride to Sacramento, then train to Reno.  US 50 across Nevada, US 6 through Utah, then back to US50 through Steamboat Springs.  Cross Continental Divide at Rabbit Ears Pass (same as 1985 and 2015), elevation 9426 ft. 

Then over Cameron Pass (10,276 ft), with a subsequent drop of about 5,400 ft. into Fort Collins.  Then bike to Denver.  At that juncture, I will take Amtrak from Denver to Omaha to save enough time to be able to drop down to Maine after Quebec for Lobster at the end of the trip.  

Continue across the Midwest to Milwaukee, then ferry to Michigan.  Cross Michigan, take ferry north of Detroit into Ontario, then bike to Quebec City, and proceed to Kittery ME.

Click This for map.

Estimated stats the ride:

    

Abrupt ending followed by seafood feasts

 Tue. 7/13  - Still raining

Rain still coming down @ 11.  No way to make it to White River Junction (70 miles) ... so managed to find a taxi (This was no small task in Middlebury) to cut at least 20 miles off the ride.   After the first 20 miles... still raining, so I had Marv (the owner of this brand new taxi service) drive another 20 miles.  After lunch, it looked passable, so I rode the last 30 miles to White River Junction. 
Had a lovely dinner at Tuckerbox downtown... it's about a 200 ft drop from the hotel to the town.

Chicken Güveç (Earthenware casserole)
Grilled marinated chicken breast, with tomato, mushroom, onion, pepper, eggplant

 Wed. 7/14  - More rain forecast ... I give up!

Streets wet when I headed out to ride to Dartmouth College in Hanover to catch the Dartmouth Coach bus to Boston.  Arrived to Boston South Station before noon.  Rode through town (a bit harrowing) to North station and caught the MBTA commuter train to Newburyport.   From there, biked up to Seabrook NH, just over the MA border, for a 2-lobster early dinner at Markey's Lobster Pool.  Strangely laid out place.  You order sides, fried foods and soft drinks at one counter, order boiled stuff (lobsters, corn) at another counter, and beer and mussels at yet another counter.  Each is bought separately, so you don't really see the full financial impact as clearly, and it's difficult to coordinate timing (see below)... but it got the job done!

The 2-lobster lunch. 
Fries were already consumed by the time the lobster came out...

Continued up the coast through Hampton Beach ...  a kind of honkey tonk beach town ... to my intermediate stay in Hampton Falls.  

Thu. 7/15  - Clear weather, more feasting!

Foggy early morning, but otherwise dry.   After breakfast biked 6 mi. back down to Hampton Beach to sample the fried dough... since I was too full the night before to pack that in.

Then biked another 15 miles to Warren's Lobster House which is just across the NH border for a late lunch .  

View of the Piscataqua river from my table. 
It appeared to be flowing upstream, probably due to tides. 
I can see New Hampshire from my window... just like Sarah can see Russia from hers!

2 lobster tails with Ritz Cracker stuffing swimming in butter

Having now officially OD'd on lobster... I rode cross town to my hotel to relax a bit before dinner at Bob's Clam Hut, which, like my hotel, is on the northern edge of Kittery.  

Shades of Howard Johnson's... I'll have the clam strips!

Tomorrow... it's down to Boston to visit some relatives, then fly home.

This is my last blog post for this trip.  I expect the total mileage to be around 2400... a far cry from the original 3600 I had planned.   Shortfall is due to: 

1. Cutting the trip short by about 10 days to go to a wedding in Seattle.
2. Taking Amtrak, taxis, and other transit to accelerate the schedule and dodge rain in the East and excessive heat in the west.

Better luck next time!

Water, Water, everywhere!

Wed.  7/7 Batavia

Must have when near Buffalo

After dinner, settled into the Super 8 Batavia.  The place is a little worn, and shares parking lot, ownership and staff with the Days Inn.  Apparently this business survived the pandemic by taking government vouchers to house otherwise homeless people.  I encountered a few long-term residents there.  Sounds to me like making lemonade out of lemons.

Thu. 7/8 - Pittsford (near Rochester)

Stayed at Dave's house.  He is the widower of my late sister (Liz) and a gracious host.  We met up at the Pittsford Dairy for sticky buns and coffee after the 40 mile ride under threatening skies, but the rain held off until just after we reached the house. 

Stephanie and Mike (long-time friends of Liz and Dave) came over for dinner.  Mike is a musician and engineer and played his mandolin a little after dinner.  The next morning, we went over to their house, which is on a wooded lot about 10 min away for a wonderful pancake breakfast.

Fri. 7/9 - Syracuse

Since the forecast was for rain across the area, I again turned to Amtrak to keep me on track (I should copyright that!).   After the short train ride (1:20) I stopped off at Dinosaur Barbecue for a late lunch before heading to the Jefferson Clinton Hotel, which is downtown amid a plethora of bars and restaurants.  Surprised that Syracuse was such a happening place.  

Sat. 7/10 - Rome
After a fairly easy 45 mile ride arrived in Rome.  Decent sized town.  Highlight was Honey Garlic Pork Tenderloin for dinner at Sugarbeets.

Sun. 7/11 - Into the Adirondacks in the rain
So much rain has fallen recently in the Adirondacks that water was flowing over the dam I passed by about 30 miles east of Rome.  Sure would be nice to be able to move some of that water to CA.

The politics of this region is typical of rural America.

Someone was having a bad hair day!

Rode about 45 miles of my 65 mile day before the rain started.   Hitchhiked to get out to the rain around 2PM and got a ride (no room in the cab, so had to ride in the back of the pickup with the bike) to the Oxbow Inn, a bar/restaurant in Piseco.   From there, caught a ride to Speculator with Mike who was at the bar.  Thanks!   It rained all night and into the morning.  Forecast was dicey for Monday as well, so arranged another ride with Bob, the 82-year old owner of the motel I was at.

Mon. 7/12 - Middlebury
Had arranged to meet my nephew in Ticonderoga.  He's in a summer Spanish immersion program at Middlebury College, a 45-min drive from Ticonderoga.  Because I got a  45 miles ride closer to Ticonderoga from Bob I was able to meet Aaron about 15 minutes closer to Middlebury.  Nice dinner at Two Brothers Tavern, the only restaurant open on Monday (other than McDonalds) .   Hadn't seen Aaron since 2014.  Glad we could meet up.

It rained all night here, and is raining now (Tuesday) so I'm writing this blog waiting for the rain to let up before heading out to White River Junction, VT on the NH border.   It's a 70-mile,  2700ft vertical ride.   A bit of a challenge.  Almost no services between here and there.

From Clare MI to Batavia, NY via Ann Arbor, Oberlin & Cleveland OH

 Fri. 7/1 :  Clare to Owosso

Breakfast at Cops & Donuts, of course  

The sticky buns were warm... then an 80-mile ride south to Owosso.  While riding the wide, smooth shoulder of US 127, the sheriff pulls up behind me in his black SUV and politely suggests I get off the highway... even though it's legal, he was uncomfortable having me ride there... so we crammed the bike into the SUV, and they took me about 15 miles down the road.  I then rode back roads with no shoulders into Owosso.  

Sat. 7/3 - Ann Arbor

Pleasant ride to Ann Arbor.  My reward was a good corned beef sandwich at Zingerman's deli.  Easily as good as anything in NYC.

Sun. 7/4 - Perrysburg :  Toledo area truck stop

The truck stop where I-280 and I-80, Ohio Turnpike meet is about as exciting as Toledo itself.  I've stayed in Toledo before... so I know these things.  Also, staying there, about 20 miles west of Toledo means that Oberlin, the next day's ride is feasible (75 miles) instead of 90 miles.   Since it was going to be over 90 deg. the next morning and humid, minimizing that ride was important.

Mon. 7/5 - Oberlin in the heat

The truck stop restaurants (Dennys and Iron Skillet) near my run-down hotel allegedly are open 24 hours, but actually don't open until 6AM, likely because they can't find enough workers to keep it open during the graveyard shift, a common problem now.  I headed out at 4:45AM and ended up with a breakfast of some pretty pathetic donuts from the truck stop store.  

However, most of the ride to Norwalk (about 25 miles from Oberlin) was on paved dedicated bicycle paths.  By the time I got to Norwalk at 11:15 it was already in the upper 80's, so I got a taxi the rest of the way to Oberlin, and dropped into Gibson's... the bakery and grocery that's right next to campus and has been operating since 1855.  

Sunrise over Ohio farmland

Kiwanis is everywhere

My accommodations were a lovely AirBnB in Oberlin.  A room and bathroom in a very large house that was built in 1885 and well kept up and renovated.  Deb and Dave were my hosts.  It was lovely!

Tue. 7/6 - Oberlin and Cleveland with Dave and Joy

Breakfast at Gibson's. 
The Cinnamon Swirls and Apple Fritters were still warm when I got there.

On the porch of Shurtleff College with Dave.  This was our dorm in 1971/72.  

Selfie with Giles Waldo Shurtleff.  

We then did a pretty comprehensive driving tour of Cleveland's western lakeshore region and downtown.  Then we had more great corned beef at Slyman's

Hung out with Dave and Joy for the rest of the afternoon.   Had planned to stay there, but rain was forecast fot the next day, so I decided to take the train to Buffalo.  Train was scheduled to depart @ 5:50AM, so staying at a nearby hotel in downtown Cleveland made more sense.

Wed. 7/7 - Training cause of raining

Of course, Amtrak was 45 minutes late... but at least it was dry.  Got off at Buffalo / Depew, which is only 32 miles from Batavia where I'm staying tonight.  Before heading out I had this:

Short stack cinnamon bun pancakes at Campfire Grill.
A Sugar high

Tomorrow, it'll be raining most of the day, as well as Friday.  Likely won't be riding until Sat. 

Minneapolis to Clare MI

Sunday  6/27 - St. Paul

Stayed close to the Amtrak station in St. Paul at the Intercontinental

Had a wonderful dinner at Meritage, a French restaurant a few blocks from the hotel.

I'll have the Duck Breast, please!

Landmark Center

View towards Minneapolis from my hotel room

Monday  6/28 - Madison, WI

Amtrak's Empire Builder was over 90 min late.  Finally arrived in Columbus, WI around 2:45 PM.  Rode to Carl's (my freshman roomate from Oberlin)  house just west of Madison.  It was great to see him, his wife, Mary Ann and granddaughters Joycelyn (age 5) and Tessy (age 3).   Bright and energetic girls!  

Tuesday  6/29 - Milwaukee, WI

Rained on and off for most of  the day, so I took the "Badger Bus" from U/W to Milwaukee.  After settling in, I made a quick run to Leon's Frozen Custard for an appetizer of the world's best Butter Pecan.

Leon's - It's the best!

Went back to Bacchus, a high end restaurant, for a 3-course prix fixe dinner:  Pasta = Fettuccini w. pork Bolognese,  Main:  Seared Scallops, Dessert:  German Chocolate (kind of like a parfait).

Wed 6/30 - Michigan

5:30 AM Sun Rise on the way to the Ferry

Woke up @ 4:30 to get the 6:00 AM ferry across Lake Michigan to Muskegon.  

Biked to Big Rapids, a town that's about 65 miles NE of Muskegon.  Unremarkable town with a lot of 4 big grocery stores for some reason.

Thur 7/1 - Clare, MI

Breakfast club at at Van Brocklin's Bakery in Big rapids. 
Note the Trump / MAGA hat on the guy in the middle.

On arriving to Cops & Donuts in Clare around 3PM, I was interviewed for their facebook post  by "Bubba" (Joe) and Kevin, both owner/Managers of this fine establishment.  

Delivery van.  Its catalytic converter was stolen a couple of months ago.

They comped my new T-shirt... since the one I've been wearing was from 2013... the first time I visited the store. 

New map - some rain

Re-Routing... updated map.  I needed to cut this trip short by about 5 days, so... I've re-routed my trip by hopping on Amtrak from St. Paul, MN to Columbus (Madison) WI.

Click Here for New Map

 Thu. 6/24 - To Montevideo MN

A fitting farewell to South Dakota 

72 miles with some headwinds.  It turns out to be good for SD's wind turbines... SD is the country's 3rd windiest state behind Iowa and Wyoming.

Montevideo itself is a split-level town.  The downtown is near the train tracks and river (Chippewa).  My hotel, the Walmart etc. are up a big hill on a plateau about 2 miles from downtown, so dinner was at the Subway adjacent to my hotel.   Too lazy / tired to climb back up the hill a second time after dinner.

Fri. 6/25 - Willmar

Originally my plan was to ride 70 miles to Hutchinson, but... headwinds and the fact my train doesn't leave 'til Sunday means I could add another day and break the ride up into 2 rides: 
40 mile (Montevideo to Willmar) and 50 mile (Willmar to Hutchinson).  

Amtrak cut back their long haul train service from 7 to 3 days/week during the  pandemic, but plans to restore 7 day service as of July 1.  

The ride to Willmar goes through the little town of Clara, which has a good old-time bakery.

Breakfast at the R&R bakery in Clara, MN

Sat. 6/26 - Hutchinson :  Minnesota Nice!

Willmar to Hutchinson is a 50 mile ride with light headwinds.  I made it to within 10 miles of Hutchinson before the rain started... so I found shelter in a gazebo in someone's front yard and called the only taxi company in Hutchinson.   The owner said it would cost between $15 and $20.  He was there within 20 minutes.   When he dropped me off at my hotel, he refused to take any money for the ride.  My hotel is on the east side of town.  Not much in the way of restaurants on this side of town, and the rain continued.  I called the taxi to take me across town to dinner, and this time he took the money.

Tomorrow, the game plan is to ride to Minnetonka, on the east side of Minneapolis, and hop on public transit to get to St. Paul, where my train departs on Monday morning.  The weather forecast is a little iffy... so I may be riding with Hutchinson's taxi van again tomorrow.

Winds: Sometimes Good and sometimes not

Wed.  6/16 Gravel ... Thanks, Google!!!

Headed for Miles City.  A 50 mile ride.  I get about 20 miles into it, and I'm following Google Map's routing on a nice quiet paved country road.  About 10 more miles down the road and it turns to gravel.  Another 3 miles and it keeps getting rougher.  I flagged down the only vehicle (SUV) that came down the road. It was mail delivery.   In rural areas USPS contracts delivery to individuals who deliver mail in their own cars to remote homes.   They informed me that the road continues like that for another 30 miles, and just keeps getting worse.   I did a u-turn and my nice tailwinds became headwinds.   My 50 mile ride ended up being a 70 mile ride, with 13 miles of headwinds and about 15 miles on the shoulder of I-94.

At the western edge of Miles City was the municipal swimming "pool" which was actually a small lake that had been made by diverting water from the Yellowstone River.  It was really nice, a smaller version of the Strandbad Mythenquai on the Obersee (lake) which we enjoyed in Zurich in 2018.   

Thu. 6/17 to Baker MT.

A long day(80 miles , 2254 ft vertical), but with brisk tailwinds.  Pretty small town with limited dining choices, but was able to have an ok steak dinner (a little tough) and a good night's sleep.

Fri. 6/18 to Hettinger ND.

Nothing open for breakfast in Baker... so it's gas station snack for breakfast and head down the road 33 miles to the first restaurant that was open.   Baker to Hettinger is 86 miles, the longest ride so far on this trip. But winds were favorable.   Hettinger has a population of about 1300, and limited choices for dining. 

Sat 6/19 to Watauga SD

The town is in the Standing Rock Indian reservation, 50 miles East of Hettinger, but with the SE headwinds, it felt more like 70.  There's no town to speak of.  The only restaurant closes @ 2PM.  The Dakota Countryside Inn is a 10 room hotel which I had to talk my way into getting the owner to accept the reservation because he said they were having a "family reunion" of his wife's family that weekend.  The owners are an elderly couple.  The wife is recovering from a recent stroke, and the reunion consisted of her brother, Jim, from Montana who was visiting.  Other than Jim and me, there was no one else there.   I think Jim was glad I was there because he seemed to need someone to talk with.    Dinner and breakfast was cereal, milk, and bread with Nutella.  

They do love their guns.

Sun. 6/20 to Mobridge, SD

The next town east of Watauga that alleged to have food was McLaughlin, but...

I'll tell you what's wrong with it my lad... It's Dead!

There was a gas station along rt 12 in McLaughlin, however, that had OK corn dogs... which kept me going 'til Mobridge.

Lots of hay fields, and lots of cattle grazing.  The cattle liked to do this half-hearted stampede when I rode by.    

Not much else interesting happening along this road to keep them amused.  

Mobridge is named after the bridge over the Missouri River on US 12 that leads into town.

One of the first attractions in town is the Klein museum, which I, of course, had to spend some time trapesing around in. It's an interesting collection of stuff from the early to mid-20th century.

Dinner in Mobridge was problematic.  I had intended to try the Chinese restaurant that Google Maps said was open until 9PM.   It was "closed until further notice".   I don't think it's coming back... so, again, I updated Google Maps to so indicate.   I've done this so far for about 6 different businesses.

The only places open were Burger King and Subway.   I ended up with a Healthy Choice Korean bowl.  It was sort of like bibimbap.  Not terrible.  Supplemented with junk food (peanut butter rice krispie bars and milk), you can make a meal out of it.   

Mon. 6/21 to Gettysburg, SD

This is a sad little town.   US 212 comprises the main street in the town and was closed from the West to East end of town.   Major construction.   This seems to be killing the businesses that depend on car traffic along US 212.  The only eatery open after 2PM is a fast-food stand called "Quiett's Corner" which is a fast food joint.  Better than nothin'...but just barely.   The gas station on the East end of town had an OK mini-mart and some food service in the morning...so that got me back on the road.

Tue. 6/22 to Redfield, SD

81 miles with headwinds.  Jeesh! 
This town has about 2,000 people, so there were a few surviving places to eat.  I lucked out because Tuesday Night was ribs night for dinner.  It was surprisingly good, and really really big.   

Wed. 6/23 to Watertown, SD

The high temperature today was 104 in Redfield, and 96 in Watertown, which is a little higher in elevation. Headwinds again...so a 73 mile ride was just not possible.  I arranged for a taxi from Watertown (a city of about 25000 people) to pick me up in Clark, about 33 miles west of Watertown.  

Breakfast in Redfield was significant.   After my eggs, hashbrowns and toast at Leos,which opened at 5:30, early enough to get out of town before it got hot, I had this monster fresh out of the oven.

The Monster Caramel Bun

I was going to have a donut at The Bread Box bakery across the street, but they are also closed, so I fixed their Google Maps listing before taking off for Clark.

Stopped in the local bike shop to get my tires pumped up  (hadn't done that since Missoula), then grabbed a lunch of wings and fresh-cut fries at Harry's.   It was so big that I'm skipping dinner tonight.

These Klein guys sure get around